Help! Blaster won't start

[prettyricky218]

I was out riding today and all of a sudden my Blaster stopped running. I turned my fuel selector to reserve and ripped home to fill it with fuel. After doing so, for whatever reason it will not stay running with the fuel selector in the "on" position - only on reserve. I thought no big deal, I'll clean the lines and check everything at the end of the day. I can ride on reserve for now.

Well, I went back out and after 15 mins of riding I fell off. went to start it, and I had nothing.
It sounds like I get a click or thud (I found a video that sounds similar to what I hear when I push the start button)

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154221231944218

The fuel thing I can figure out. But do any of you have any ideas why my ski won't turn over?
I checked all the battery cables are secure and look good. The battery was cranking the starter over really well so I don't think it's the battery either.
I don't know much about the ebox or anything, and that's where the click sounds like it's coming from.
Any info/advice is appreciated!

Thanks,

 

[Vumad]

The clicking is your solinoid trying to engage. Start by taking the plugs out and turning the couplers by hand. That will verify your motor didn't seize from all the air in the fuel lines.

I'd be more likely to think you were cranking it trying to get it started and wore down the battery. Just charge the battery over night and give it a go tomorrow.

On a related topic for the future...
You probably couldn't get it to run on primary because the lines were dry and you didnt re-prime them. If you run your ski out of fuel, be sure to always let it idle a while before stomping on it to be sure there is no air left in the lines. Letting a little fuel in an empty tank slosh around can also airate the fuel in the lines. Both can cause seizure. Be gentle on it when the fuel is low.

 

[prettyricky218]

The clicking is your solinoid trying to engage. Start by taking the plugs out and turning the couplers by hand. That will verify your motor didn't seize from all the air in the fuel lines.

I'd be more likely to think you were cranking it trying to get it started and wore down the battery. Just charge the battery over night and give it a go tomorrow.

On a related topic for the future...
You probably couldn't get it to run on primary because the lines were dry and you didnt re-prime them. If you run your ski out of fuel, be sure to always let it idle a while before stomping on it to be sure there is no air left in the lines. Letting a little fuel in an empty tank slosh around can also airate the fuel in the lines. Both can cause seizure. Be gentle on it when the fuel is low.

Holy crap! I was definitely not easy on it after it stopped running due to the fuel issue. Now I'm worried I seized it. But an air seizure .... is it any better than a regular seizure? I mean the battery had lots of juice so I tend to not think that was the problem, however I did do a lot of cranking.
Once the fuel from the reserve tank was out of the lines it didn't even want to idle or anything from the main.

 

[Vumad]

Holy crap! I was definitely not easy on it after it stopped running due to the fuel issue. Now I'm worried I seized it. But an air seizure .... is it any better than a regular seizure? I mean the battery had lots of juice so I tend to not think that was the problem, however I did do a lot of cranking.
Once the fuel from the reserve tank was out of the lines it didn't even want to idle or anything from the main.

Like I said, I wouldn't worry about it. It's more likely low voltage from continuously trying to pull a prime.

There's no such thing as an "air seizure". It just that air in the fuel lines means less, fuel, so it runs lean. I'm just saying let your lines re-prime in the future. The easiest way to do that is fill the tank back up, let it run on reserve and switch it to primary while idling. If it dies, just switch back to reserve, idle some more and switch to primary again. Let it idle about 30 seconds to a minute on primary so you know your lines are primed before you start riding hard. It's not a huge deal, just safer that way, and drains less battery. Generally, I switch to reserve at the 1st sputter and start heading for more fuel.

 

[prettyricky218]

OK,
So I fully charged the battery. It was only at like 45% when I started so I was hopeful that was the problem.
While that was charging I pulled the plugs and looked in the cylinders and also moved the coupler so I've verified that is not seized.
Once the battery was back in I went to start it and just heard the click/thud sound coming from the electronic box on the aft bulkhead of the engine bay.
I saw there is a piece you can unscrew so I did that and inside is a fuse. I checked and the fuse is good so I put it back in and put the cap back on and went to try and start. it turned over so I was hopeful (although I haven't really fixed anything :-/ ) went to push start again and it turned over so I put it all back together and here I am again unable to get it to turn over. I can not get it to try and start again, just that click noise.

Any ideas? I don't know what to expect if I take the ebox out or what I should look for.
I'm guessing perhaps it's just a bad solenoid?

 

[sneds]

I would check the starter.

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[Vumad]

OK,
So I fully charged the battery. It was only at like 45% when I started so I was hopeful that was the problem.
While that was charging I pulled the plugs and looked in the cylinders and also moved the coupler so I've verified that is not seized.
Once the battery was back in I went to start it and just heard the click/thud sound coming from the electronic box on the aft bulkhead of the engine bay.
I saw there is a piece you can unscrew so I did that and inside is a fuse. I checked and the fuse is good so I put it back in and put the cap back on and went to try and start. it turned over so I was hopeful (although I haven't really fixed anything :-/ ) went to push start again and it turned over so I put it all back together and here I am again unable to get it to turn over. I can not get it to try and start again, just that click noise.

Any ideas? I don't know what to expect if I take the ebox out or what I should look for.
I'm guessing perhaps it's just a bad solenoid?

Check all of your connections to you battery and starter first. Might also want to try a battery from another ski you know to be good.

If you open the ebox, you can test the solinoid with a ohm meter. Theres videos online of how to do that. Also check the grounds.

If you were cranking it a lot, you could have gotten your starter too hot. So check it too as sneds said.

Videos of all of the above can easily be found online.

 

[prettyricky218]

So I pulled the ebox apart and while I didn't have an ohm meter I put a screw driver across both of the terminals therefore completing the circuit so it should have cranked over ...Right?
It did not crank over so I'm assuming it's the starter - do you guys agree with this?
When you say check the grounds. What grounds? I only know of the one going to the battery which looks decent.
I couldn't find any vids on how to check or replace the starter.

 

[Vumad]

So I pulled the ebox apart and while I didn't have an ohm meter I put a screw driver across both of the terminals therefore completing the circuit so it should have cranked over ...Right?
It did not crank over so I'm assuming it's the starter - do you guys agree with this?
When you say check the grounds. What grounds? I only know of the one going to the battery which looks decent.
I couldn't find any vids on how to check or replace the starter.

Yes, it should have sparked and tried to crank if you jumped the 2 red battery wires inside the ebox.

The grounds are the black ring terminals held in by a bolt. Bolt can come loose or those wires can break. If it did nothing when you jumped the solinoid, then this is not your problem.

Starter is held on by 2 bolts towards the back. Just disconnect the 2 cables and remove the 2 bolts. Starter comes out.

Have you checked the wires bolted to the starter? It's common place for corrosion. If nothing is happening when you jumped the solinoid, then you have a problem with your cables, battery or starter.

 

[prettyricky218]

So I left the machine with a shop in the town where our cabin is located. They called me today and said they are 2 weeks out before they can even look at it, and it's gonna be $5-600. I had a friend go and pick it up and bring it back to my cabin. I'm going to put a new starter in myself, but have a few more questions.
Where is it located?? I've looked online and stuff and haven't been able to actually figure this out. Is on the left side of the engine under my B pipe? If anyone knows of any videos or tutorials on how to do this, that would be awesome!!
2nd question - is there a specific brand or anything that anyone suggests?

I'd like to get this ordered so I have the parts here and can tackle this project this weekend and get this thing back on the water.

 

[sneds]

I would stick with an Oem starter. Other brands will get you going short term but will not last. The starter is located under the exhaust manifold.... It might be a good idea to pickup a shop manual. I think you'll find it very helpful for stuff like this. I use mine all the time.

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[Vumad]

So I left the machine with a shop in the town where our cabin is located. They called me today and said they are 2 weeks out before they can even look at it, and it's gonna be $5-600. I had a friend go and pick it up and bring it back to my cabin. I'm going to put a new starter in myself, but have a few more questions.
Where is it located?? I've looked online and stuff and haven't been able to actually figure this out. Is on the left side of the engine under my B pipe? If anyone knows of any videos or tutorials on how to do this, that would be awesome!!
2nd question - is there a specific brand or anything that anyone suggests?

I'd like to get this ordered so I have the parts here and can tackle this project this weekend and get this thing back on the water.

In this picture, the starter is painted blue. The silver nut is where your positive cable connects. You should take it on and off with 2 10mm wrenches so you don't break off the terminal. The starter is held on with 2 10mm bolts. You can see the upper bolt in this picture beside the positive nut. The negative cable will either be on one of the 2 mounting bolts or on its own bolt on the back of the starter. Just disconnect the battery cables, remove the 2 starter bolts, pull the starter backwards to remove it. It's best to disconnect and remove your batter before doing the job.

I did my starter with my head pipe still attached but I removed my gas tank and my chamber. It was still pretty tough. If you do remove the head pipe, be careful not to strip the manifold.

The best starters are OEM. OEM starters are very expensive. I think all of the 2-stroke starters are the same so you can pretty easily find a fresh water part out. @Rdrttoy is a good source for such parts. SBT starters are acceptable but a minty OEM is what I bought.

 

[prettyricky218]

The manifolds strip easy? I won't tighten it back down super tight then. I assume taking if off isn't a problem?
I don't get what you mean using 2 wrenches so not to break the terminal?
The dealer said it as OEM for $235, $271 after tax. I better call and verify tomorrow it is in fact OEM as I've been hearing some pretty bad reviews on aftermarket.

 

[Vumad]

The manifolds strip easy? I won't tighten it back down super tight then. I assume taking if off isn't a problem?
I don't get what you mean using 2 wrenches so not to break the terminal?
The dealer said it as OEM for $235, $271 after tax. I better call and verify tomorrow it is in fact OEM as I've been hearing some pretty bad reviews on aftermarket.

Those sound correct for oem replacements.

The positive terminal has 2 nuts. You need to hold both nuts with 2 wrenches. The bottom wrench you hold still while operating the top nut, so you dont break the terminal.

The manifolds strip because its chromoly bolts into aluminum.

I still think its your battery not your starter. Starters dont usually fail under the conditions you described unless you were really being abusing cranking it alot.

 

[prettyricky218]

Those sound correct for oem replacements.

The positive terminal has 2 nuts. You need to hold both nuts with 2 wrenches. The bottom wrench you hold still while operating the top nut, so you dont break the terminal.

The manifolds strip because its chromoly bolts into aluminum.

I still think its your battery not your starter. Starters dont usually fail under the conditions you described unless you were really being abusing cranking it alot.

Well good news. The dealer said I could return it if I didn't use it and it turned out not to be that. my step dad has a bunch of boat batteries and batteries for solar power all charged up. They're the wrong size for the ski, but I could hook one or two of those up just to verify, however he also has a charger that tells you what charge your battery is at and when it's full. I was at 48% and charged it up to 100, and prior to that it was cranking over good and fast. I tend to not think it's the battery, but what the heck do I know. I'll keep you posted when I tear it apart friday. funny thing is I remember looking at that manifold and thinking I hope I don't ever have to take that off is there isn't much room for nice full turns on those bolts. it's gonna be like baby steps and take forever. perhaps I should use a torque wrench putting it back on. I'd be so mad if I stripped it.

 

[Dylancudd4]

Well we had the same thing! Our blaster is still in peices, we replaced the battery and the starter and turns out it was neither. She still clicks


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[prettyricky218]

Well we had the same thing! Our blaster is still in peices, we replaced the battery and the starter and turns out it was neither. She still clicks


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I'd guess it's your relay/solenoid in the ebox then or your starter switch on the handlebar.
did you test your starter with a test light? I need to buy a test light and do that

 

[Dylancudd4]

It can't be the switch otherwise the solenoid wouldn't be clicking


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[Vumad]

It can't be the switch otherwise the solenoid wouldn't be clicking


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EDIT: I guess you were talking about the switch not the solenoid so you are completely correct. My mistake. Still good info below though.

That's not completely true. A solenoid should be ohm'ed to verify it allows the full 12-volts to travel through. You do this by connecting the start/stop leads to 12v so the solenoid engages, then ohm the 2 terminals.

Heres a video. Watch from 1:00-2:20

 

[Pro-pulsion]

Check the starter bendix and make sure there is nothing broken binding it up in the flywheel cover. It's easy to inspect quickly, just remover that cover on the front of the engine between the waterbox and engine and check for any thing broken or jammed. It will do exactly what you are saying because the starter just can not turn.